View full sizeA big portion of downtown will be closed to accommodate the BayFest Music Festival.

MOBILE, Alabama -- With the first artist slated to play BayFest tonight, officials are reminding people to stay safe and avoid roads closed
ahead of what's billed as Alabama's biggest music festival.

Organizers closed parts of Congress, St. Anthony, St. Louis,
St. Francis, and North Conception streets on Wednesday and Thursday.

At 2 p.m. today, parts of St. Joseph, North Royal and North
Joachim streets will close along with more of St. Louis and St. Anthony
Streets. At 5:15 p.m., another round of closures will affect State and North
Royal streets.

Organizers expect approximately 200,000 people to attend
this year's event, which kicks off at 6:30 p.m.

To help festival-goers in need of police assistance, the
Mobile Police Department said uniformed officers will be at BayFest. The Mobile
Fire-Rescue Department is also dispatching a number of firemedics and emergency
medical technicians (EMTs) at the event, decked out in red shirts, in case of a
medical emergency.

"They will be on foot, on bikes, on mini-ambulances and full-size
ambulances," the department tweeted.

Both plainclothes and uniformed police officers will be at
the festival to make sure there's no "criminal activity," taking place –
including underage drinking, according to Mobile Police Department spokesman
Cpl. Christopher Levy.

Police released a set of tips and safety guidelines
yesterday ahead of the festivities. The tips include:

Attend the event with
family or friends.

Secure important
belongings inside of vehicles and out of view.

Parents should place an
identity card in their child's pocket in the event they become separated
from one another. The card should provide the name of the child, address,
telephone contact numbers and the name of a relative.

In the event that
parents and children are separated, the children should be instructed to
go to nearest police officer.

Adults are encouraged
to establish a post-event meeting place for family and friends in case you
become separated.